robotic overlords

Here’s a good rule of thumb: “Don’t update your firmware five minutes before you’re going to fly an autonomous robot ten feet away from a former Vice President of the United States.”That was one of the afterthoughts of [Chris Anderson] after presenting his Arduino controlled blimp at TED. (I might have to squeeze TED into my con schedule next year.) The project itself is somewhat documented here, with some hi-res photos, parts list, and some firmware. Apparently the blimp was overcome by the A/C in the auditorium, but I still dig it.

[Max T] sent in this interesting robot design. I dig the combo motion design. The legs can walk, or the wheels flip out time machine style to roll the robot around. Rather than power the wheels, the legs are used to skate the robot around – like a human on skates.